Pirro not giving up on CRT 'victory' hopes

Michele Pirro hasn't given up on ending the 2012 MotoGP World Championship with a CRT victory for the Gresini Honda team.

Pirro, 12th in the wet at Sepang in Malaysia last weekend, is currently in 15th position in the standings ahead of this weekend's penultimate round at Phillip Island in Australia and the final race at Valencia next month.

The Italian rider improved his dry set-up at Sepang before the inclement weather struck and hopes to build on that progress this weekend.

Pirro has yet to finish a race this season as the top CRT rider on his FTR, but he isn't about to throw in the towel with two bites at the cherry still remaining.

"I was very happy with the result Sepang, especially because I was hoping for a dry race after the pace we showed in warm-up," he said.

"That was a shame but hopefully we get good conditions at Phillip Island this weekend, even though the temperatures will be chilly.

"I really like this track and if we get the same feel from the bike that we had on Sunday morning in Malaysia then I could have a good race," added Pirro, who was 14th fastest in warm-up at Sepang, narrowly behind Aleix Espargaro and ahead of Randy de Puniet.

"There are two races left and I would really like to take a CRT win, that would make me really proud."